Halloween 1979
by LoveFromShinola
Summary: James and Lily share some typical married couple moments on their last Halloween alone.


**AN:**

**I don't usually write James/Lily but I have nothing against the guy and seeing as it's Halloween, I thought I'd write a little piece for Harry's parents, what with RIP James and Lily Potter trending on Twitter. Okay, here we go. I do not own Harry Potter, it is the possession of Jo Rowling and Warner Bros.**

October 31st 1979

The Halloween party had lasted longer than either of them had thought it would, so it was nearing midnight when they finally managed to make it home. The creaking gate to their Godric's Hollow cottage was a charming little thing in and of itself, and Lily always smiled when she opened it.

Cottages were part of that old English tradition. There were the manors and the castles and the palaces and at the other, more homely end of the spectrum, there was a cottage. Their cottage in particular was like something out a storybook and Lily had fallen in love with it the moment she saw it. The symmetrical windows, the door with its brass-knocker, the sandy stone and the white-painted frames…it was all very Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Of course, when she'd tried explaining that to James it had gone way above his head. Nonetheless, he'd liked the house too and so they'd bought it not so long ago and by now it was pretty much how they liked it.

Trudging in, Lily pulled off her cloak and, rather uncharacteristically, threw it underneath the coat rack. She slumped on the sofa, hand over her eyes and yawned a great yawn, stretching like a cat. Bemused, James picked up her lilac robe and put it in its place, then flopped to join her, moaning:

'Well, that was a nice sort of night.'

'Yeah,' Lily said, yawning halfway through. 'Yeah, it was nice. Bit knackering though.'

'Hmm…' James groaned, burying his head in the plush fabric of the couch. He felt his wife crawl across him and tugged her absent-mindedly closer. She rested her head against his chest and he stretched his legs out, all of a sudden sore and lacking function.

'Should we be this tired? Aren't we supposed to be teenagers?'

'Ha.' Lily laughed. 'I think we passed the teenage stage when we went and got married. Now we're domesticated.'

'The lion's turned into a house cat.' He mumbled and then chuckled as she swatted him lightly across the ear.

The temptation to fall asleep right then and there was getting overpowering, so Lily slipped away and sat up, pressing her hands on her eyes.

'Come on then house cat. Best not fall asleep down here. I'm not gonna have you moaning all tomorrow about how bad your back is.'

James stubbornly refused to shift. Quidditch injuries and their after effects were all part of the sport, but right now, bad back be damned, he just couldn't be bothered to move.

'You go up, Lil. I'll - ' Another yawn, 'I'll suffer the consequences.'

'Oh no you won't!' she said, adamant, and took his hand to yank him up and off. She had no chance. He might not be heavy-heavy, but he wasn't exactly feather-light either. That and the fact he was currently _attempting _to be a dead weight meant she'd have to use other methods of persuasion.

'Well, if you want to stay down here all cold and alone that's fine. Guess I bought that new nightie for no reason.' She waltzed off, counted to three and was promptly swept off her feet and rushed up the staircase. She'd been unceremoniously dumped on the bed before she had chance to blink and faster than that he was climbing on top of her.

'Whoa! Easy there. Let a girl get undressed first.'

He backed off, to his credit and she slipped agonisingly slowly out of her clothes. Eager, he tried to reach the hook of her bra before she could and realised too late he'd overbalanced himself. The bed swayed, he went with it and was promptly dumped headfirst on the floor, much to the amusement of a certain redhead.

Lily collapsed in floods of tears, the laughter so great her stomach was killing. Her whole body was convulsing wildly out of control and she couldn't stop it if she'd wanted to. This went on for a few minutes, with Lily burying the noise with a pillow, until she peeped over the edge of the bed and saw James was still lying, winded and perplexed, glaring up at the ceiling.

'That's what you get for trying to be smooth.'

He stuck his tongue out at her and she bit her lip so she wouldn't start giggling again. He crossed his arms, temper tantrum style and continued to burn a hole in the roof with his gaze.

'What's the ceiling ever done to you?' she asked, and he stuck out his bottom lip. 'Come on,' she pressed, 'get in bed. You look a right pillock laid out in your under-drawers.'

Ever hoping to maintain his dignity, James acquiesced and clambered onto his side of the bed, shutting off the light.

'Hey!' Lily complained and reached across him to tug it back on. In the blinding light he was rolled away from her and sulking. 'So you're going to let my nightie go to waste after all?'

No answer. Stroking his damaged ego would be the only way forward.

'You know, you even fall acrobatically. Quite a skill that. Maybe you could try out for the Olympics? Do they do 'falling with style'?'

Okay, so maybe not so much an ego-stroking as an icebreaker. For a few moments there was a dead quiet, until a blast of noise erupted from her husband's mouth and he turned, laughing madly and shaking with mirth.

'You even fall acrobatically? God, Lil, way to try and all that, but that was pretty shit.'

She slammed her pillow across his head, only half serious, smiling as he fended her off.

'Well it worked didn't it! You're not pouting like a six-year-old boy anymore.'

'No, I'm not.' He said and the way he caught her eye made her stomach flip. 'So…where were we again?'

That Halloween night was the last James and Lily would share alone. Exactly nine months later, their son Harry James Potter was born.

**AN:**

**Okay, so a bit of a daft little thing, but I wanted to write something. Hope you liked it. Please review!**


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